6 challenges awaiting the new BJP government in Uttar Pradesh

Despite having the largest population, UP spends Rs 452 per capita on health

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BJP workers play holi with a giant cut-out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they celebrate the party’s victory in the UP and Uttarakhand Assembly elections, at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

IndiaSpend Team

Last Updated : Mar 17 2017 | 8:08 AM IST

With a population of 200 million people, equivalent to the population of Brazil but with an economy the size of Qatar’s–which has 2.4 million people, the same as the town of Bijnore–the new government of India’s most-populous state faces a myriad of problems.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is comparable to Kenya’s, and its infant mortality rate rivals Mauritania, a poverty-ridden, west-African nation.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an unprecedented victory in UP in the 2017 assembly election, winning 312